Green and Grey
by Daughter-of-athena-in-hogwarts
Summary: Albus and Scorpius find a cat nearing the end of winter. The rest is self explanatory.


"Why are we out here? It's cold," Albus grumbled.

Scorpius sighed. "You said you were bored by all the revision for our O.W.L.S. Anyway, why are you cold? It's the middle of spring!" He paused and took a look at the ground. "What's that?" He asked, pointing at a small grey ball curled up next to some bushes behind the greenhouses.

Albus muttered under his breath for a few moments and finally peered over and saw what Scorpius was looking at. "Is it just me, or does that look like a cat?" He asked as he went closer. "It is a cat! Scorpius come here!"

Scorpius rushed over. Looking up at him was a small kitten with large green eyes. Scorpius laughed. "It's so cute, and it has your eyes, Albus. Can we keep it?"

"Scorpius, how in the world are we supposed to keep a cat with our O.W.L.S coming up? And I don't think we can just be like 'oh look we have a cat now'."

Scorpius looked at the kitten fondly. "It's so tiny though! And if we don't take care of it, it might die."

Albus sighed. "Fine, we can keep it. But we have to find a place to hide it, for I don't think my dad will be very happy with 'another thing causing me unnecessary stress and worry'," Albus took a pause and rolled his eyes. "And we have to figure out what to feed it."

Scorpius whooped and picked the cat up, carrying it gently. "I know where we can hide it, my dad was telling me about the Room of Requirement a few months ago; I bet we could find it."

"Actually, I already know where it is." Albus smiled.

Scorpius was so shocked he almost dropped the tiny cat. "And when were you going to tell me about this?" He demanded.

Albus thought for a moment. "Now," he said cheekily.

Scorpius shook his head in dismay. "Just show me where it is, you dolt."

The pair quickly made it up to the seventh floor, careful to avoid people and not wake the sleeping cat in Scorpius's arms.

Albus paced outside an empty wall, besides a tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, with Scorpius jumping up and down excitedly.

"Um, what are you doing?" Scorpius asked, wondering why Albus had just walked past the wall for the third time.

"You'll see," Albus told him with a smirk on his face.

Scorpius was astounded when the door materialized out of nowhere. "What just happened? How did that door appear?"

"Just get inside so no one knows we have a kitten," Albus said, pushing Scorpius in through the door.

Inside was what Scorpius would call "the perfect environment for a cat".

Scorpius was amazed. "How did you know exactly what to put in here?"

Two plush chairs appeared out of nowhere, and Albus sat down.

"I didn't. All I needed to do was ask the room what a cat needed. I honestly know nothing about cats."

"Oh," Scorpius said. "Does that mean I can create anything that I imagine?"

Albus hesitated. "I guess if it's reasonable. I never thought to test it."

Scorpius thought for a moment. A few minutes later a bookshelf appeared.

"Cool!"

Albus laughed. "Only you would want a bookshelf in a room for a cat."

Scorpius laughed and pulled out a book. "These are all books on how to take care of a cat properly. I think they would be quite helpful, especially for you."

/

They were careful for the next four days, thinking no one had noticed them running off to the Room whenever they had the chance. However, their thoughts were proven wrong the very next day, when Rose came running up to them as they were getting ready to leave the Great Hall and head up to the seventh floor.

"Hi!" She said. "Are you two really dating? That's all Gryffindor table can talk about anyway. Also, did you know that James is dating Alex?"

Albus was confused. "Wait what was the first thing you said?"

"Are you dating Scorpius? You two keep on running off together during breaks and everything doing who knows what." Rose pointed out.

Albus's jaw dropped. "No, we aren't dating!" His mind was racing to find some other excuse for running off.

Scorpius saw Albus's struggle and jumped in. "We just want to get some more study time, that's all."

"Now that that's cleared up, who is James dating?" Albus asked.

Rose smiled. "He didn't tell you? Alex Pryor, of Ravenclaw is dating James. I honestly have no idea how they met, but apparently both are Quidditch captains this year, and star chasers to boot. I'm assuming that's how they met but apparently they've been seeing each other for quite a few weeks before they told us yesterday."

Albus was upset. "Why didn't he tell me though?"

Rose face fell. "Do you want me to ask him to come over here?"

"It's fine Rose, I'll confront him later." Albus said, realizing that lunch was almost ending and they still needed to feed the cat.

/

The next day, Albus saw James exiting Transfiguration as he was walking down the hall. Seeing his chance, he ran over to him demanding explanation. Poor Scorpius was left standing awkwardly listening to the conversation.

"Oh hi, little brother! What brings you here?" James said cheerfully.

"Don't 'oh hi' me! What is this about you dating someone and not telling me!" Albus demanded.

James smiled and Alex appeared out of nowhere. "I thought Rose told you?"

"Yeah she told me, but that didn't explain why you didn't tell me first. I'm your brother!" Albus exclaimed.

"Okay I'm sorry, but I couldn't find a chance to tell you, with you running off to places with Scorpius and you being in a different house and all."

Meanwhile, since both Scorpius and Alex were standing awkwardly they started to have a small conversation.

James suddenly hugged Albus. "Okay bye, I promise to tell you things from now on so you'll hear it from me not from Rose next time! But if you and Scorpius are dating you better tell me so I know who to threaten!" James waved and quickly ran off so Albus wouldn't yell at him about his last comment.

Scorpius and Alex broke off their conversation and rejoined their two friends.

/

"Oh fuck," Scorpius mumbled, trying to whisper and still have Albus hear him over the loudness of the Great Hall.

"Oh fuck is right," Albus replied. "We can't leave the cat here for a week while we're on Easter holiday, and I don't think either of us want to be cooped up in this castle longer than we have to. And I can't bring the cat home because my dad thinks our owls are enough."

"We have a few peacocks and owls, but I don't think my dad likes cats very much," Scorpius added thoughtfully.

"How is it going to eat?" Albus asked, slightly panicking.

Right at that moment, James decided it was a perfect moment to walk up to them.

"How is what going to eat?" He asked, sliding up to Albus and leaning on the edge of the table.

"James!" Albus yelped. "This is the Slytherin table!"

"Yeah, and I hope you're not feeding a snake or something," James shot back, casually stealing a piece of Albus's toast. "I don't think the castle will fare very well if we have another Basilisk terrorizing the students."

"What did you come over here for anyway?" Albus asked, exasperated.

"We're just checking up on you, and making sure you're coming home for Easter break. Wouldn't want you to end up almost destroying the world again," James replied cheerily. "Also you've been acting suspicious lately and we're worried about you."

Albus narrowed his eyes. "By 'we' you mean…?"

"Me, Lily, Rose, and Dad. Mum thinks you're perfectly fine and just stressed about exams, but the rest of us know better."

Albus shook his head. "I'm perfectly fine! You can stop bothering me now!"

"Just looking out for you, little bro!" James called, and sauntered off toward his friends.

Scorpius turned back to Albus and continued talking. "I was thinking we could do that one of the fancy refillable charm things that the Charms professor was talking about on the cat food, and since the room can take care of basically everything else, I think we're covered."

"How in the world are we supposed to do that charm? You know how bad I am at magic, and even if we could, is it possible to make it last a week?" Albus wondered.

"We could pay someone to take care of it for us?" Scorpius suggested.

"Who's staying at Hogwarts over break?" Albus asked.

"Well I know for a fact that Rose's friend Alexa is staying over," Scorpius replied. "And she's great. I'd trust her wholeheartedly."

Albus felt a twinge of jealousy when Scorpius mentioned the two girls but, he shrugged it off as being a protective friend.

Scorpius took no notice of Albus's change in posture. "Alexa is a Ravenclaw and she loves pets. I'm pretty sure she'll be fine with looking after the cat. Should I ask her?"

"Oh sure, why not. Nothing to lose right? Just make sure to tell her it's a secret," Albus replied. "How did get to know her anyway?"

"Oh, we just happened to run into each other at the library, and our casual conversation turned into an hour long intense discussion about our favorite literary character," Scorpius said. "I haven't talked to her in a while, I'll see if I can spot her at the library today and ask her about it."

"Oh so that's what happened when you went to the library and didn't come back for a few hours, and I got really concerned," Albus remembered.

"Yeah, I swear I've told you this before," Scorpius responded. "Anyway, lunch is almost over and we should be getting to Potions. I'll talk to Alexa tonight, and hope for the best!"

/

Scorpius ran into Alexa on his way to the library.

"Hi Alexa," Scorpius said.

"Hi Scorpius! We haven't talked in awhile!" Alexa replied happily. "Are you here to debate the differences between muggle fairytales and wizarding ones again?"

"No actually, I came to ask you for a favor." Scorpius told her.

"What is it?" Alexa asked. "I hope it's not romance advice, I'm not good at that. I am aromantic for a reason, you know!" She joked.

Scorpius blushed. "No, it's not that. It's something else." He paused. "Since you're staying at school over break, Albus and I were wondering if you could take care of our cat for us."

"Since when do you have a cat? And since when do you and Albus share a cat?" Alexa asked.

"We, um, kind of adopted a stray cat that we found behind the greenhouses and we've been hiding it from everyone," Scorpius told her.

"Oh! Can I see it? Where are you guys keeping it?" She asked eagerly.

Scorpius smiled. "The Room of Requirement."

Alexa instantly burst out laughing. "Oh, so that's why you two keep on going there!"

Scorpius's eyes narrowed. "Who's spreading rumors about us again?"

Alexa awkwardly slid away, trying to avoid answering the question.

"You're not going to tell me, are you?" Scorpius asked

Alexa laughed. "Just take me to see the bloody cat already!"

/

"Oh wow! That cat is adorable! Did you two name it yet?"

Scorpius shifted nervously. "No, not yet."

"Can I name it?" Alexa asked, picking up the cat and holding it to her chest.

Scorpius looked to Albus for approval.

"Sure, I guess," Albus responded. "But you 'd better not name it something stupid, or name it after a dead person, like scorpius always does." He said, looking pointedly at him.

"What? Dead people have good names!"

"Hm, is it a boy or a girl?" She asked.

"How are we supposed to know?" Albus and Scorpius asked at the exact same time.

Alexa looked down for a few moments, as if she was trying to find out the gender of the cat.  
"Good question. Okay, a gender-neutral name then. But honestly, you've had this cat for what, like two weeks now? How does it not have a name or a gender yet?"

Albus and Scorpius both shrugged in response.

"It never came up," Scorpius said.

"Okay, so it can be named Earl Grey," she said with wink, "or Shadow."

"As interesting as it would be to have a cat named after tea," Albus said, "I think it would be quite confusing to hear 'Oh, are you drinking Earl Grey?' and be like, 'what? That's our cat'!"

Scorpius laughed. "Very true. Shadow it is."

Alexa set Shadow back down on a nearby chair, where it promptly curled up into a ball went back to sleep.

"Alexa, are you sure about taking care of it?" Albus asked.

"Of course, why wouldn't I be? It's not like I'm doing anything else exciting," Alexa said offhandedly. "I'm just hoping that Alex isn't going to come and find it or something. Then he'll probably tell James, and I don't think you two want James knowing."

Albus was surprised. "Wait, I thought Alex was staying with us over break? James wrote Mum, and then she wrote me telling me I could bring a friend also, so that's why Scorpius is coming over later in the week."

Alexa looked relieved for some reason. "Oh. Well, thanks for telling me! Now, it's getting late, I should be off. But I'm really looking forward to taking care of your cat."

"Wait, Alexa, make sure not to wear anything that can get tangled, Shadow likes to play with anything and everything that is like string. There's way too many of my shoelaces which have knots I can't undo." Scorpius called.

"Thanks for the tip! See you two whenever!" Alexa said, dashing off.

/

A week after Easter break was when the secret got spilled. It wasn't Alexa's fault, she had taken care of the cat perfectly, and when they came back, it had a stronger bond with her than either Scorpius or Albus. (Which Albus was a little put out by, but he tried not to show it.) Unfortunately, Shadow had run out chasing after Alexa the minute she left. Alexa, Albus, and Scorpius chased after the cat, only stopping when it ran into the middle of the crowded Great Hall, right during lunch.

Scorpius bent down and picked up the cat.

"Awe, you didn't want me to leave, did you?" Alexa cooed at the cat in Scorpius' arms.

Albus struggled to push his two friends back out of the Hall, knowing that they were holding Shadow in front of everyone.

Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough. James suddenly stood up triumphantly and pointed at the trio. "Ha! So you two aren't dating! Alex, I told you!"

Alex pulled his boyfriend back down.

The trio quickly split up and went back to their tables, not wanting to cause anymore disruption.

"Albus!" Scorpius hissed as Albus dragged him to the Slytherin table. "I'm still holding the cat!"

"Put Shadow down next to you. It will probably end up sleeping anyway; it's tired from its run."

Scorpius gave up and complied. Instead of placing it next to him however, he put it into his lap, casually petting it, trying to make sure it wouldn't run off again. Much to his relief, Shadow did not run off, but instead curled up into a ball and fell asleep.

/

After facing a bunch of questions, and Albus' family's "no you can't have a cat, you both have OWLS this year", they decided to give Shadow to Alexa. She was only too happy to finally be getting ownership of the "darling cat she had loved since she set her eyes on," and "no, I'm prepared for my OWLS, so it's not inconvenient at all".

"Well, it was nice while it lasted." Scorpius said. "Shadow was very cute."

"But it was kind of hard to run around hiding like that. I hope we never have to do that again." Albus responded.

"Me too."

/  
It seemed the whole school was quite surprised that they weren't dating after all, making them very much surprised when the two boys did end up dating a year later.

/


End file.
